


Nocturnal Demons

by TheThornOfBlackRose



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Anal Sex, Choking, Dom/sub, Earthborn (Mass Effect), Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Master/Slave, Mind Control, Multi, Non-Consensual Blow Jobs, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Public Sex, Rough Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Sentinel (Mass Effect), Sexual Slavery, Sole Survivor (Mass Effect), Spanking, Threesome - F/F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:47:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6494230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheThornOfBlackRose/pseuds/TheThornOfBlackRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Commander Shepard is drawn to a planet containing a Prothean artifact through a dream, but he is soon haunted by surreal and dark nightmares that make him question his own sanity. And as various crew members begin acting strangely, Shepard wonders if everything was what it seemed with the Prothean artifact. Are the Protheans conducting an experiment from beyond the grave? Or were the crew of the Normandy SR2 never meant to handle the remains of such a powerful species? Or is there something else darker at play?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Message

_Commander John Shepard was in unfamiliar surroundings, uncertain how he got there or even where there was. As he looked around the environment, he attempted to make note of what he saw, just as his Alliance training had taught him, in order to make certain he would not get lost. But as he did so he realized he was unable to do so. He could see his surroundings and knew he had never been… wherever this place was before, but he could not describe or remember what it looked like even seconds after seeing it._

_After what felt like hours of trying (and failing) to mentally map out his surrounding areas, Shepard instead tried to figure out the events that led him to be dazed and confused in foreign lands. As he began his attempt at recollection, he was suddenly aware of a light pulsating in his skull, obviously easy to ignore as even the slightest battlefield wound was a million times worst. Though he was unable to recall any recent events, he realized he had no idea where the Normandy or her crew was. The more thoughts that entered his head, the stronger the pulsating became and the harder it was to ignore._

_As the pain grew Shepard knew it would be wise to halt any and all unneeded thoughts, and instead decided he should attempt to explore this unknown and impossibly indescribable territory he found himself in. With each step he wished he could ponder how his feet hit a ground that even he himself was uncertain existed. The more time passed, the more Shepard couldn’t tell if he was actually getting anywhere. He tried to recall whether he had already been where he currently was, but not only was he unable to remember what any of his past surroundings looked like, but his head began pulsating like the beat of the drums of a marching band playing to his seemingly infinite journey. It became unbearable; his vision blurred, the world shook, and his usually muscular and powerful legs felt like noodles underneath him._

_Soon after Shepard fell to his knees, the strength that it had took for him to stand up straight soon returned to him so his vision cleared and whatever world this was decided to stand still. It was at that moment that he remembered something so obvious he should’ve slapped himself for forgetting. Shepard pulled his armor-clad arm up to his line of sight and activated his omni-tool._

_‘If I can’t get a comm signal, I should at least be able to find out where the hell I am,' Shepard thought to himself as his omni-tool powered up. 'Huh, my armor’s power reserves must be running low. Hopefully it has enough juice to-'_

_The galactic commander’s thoughts were cut short as the painful pulsating suddenly turned into an excruciating electronic screech that echoed through his entire being. He had accomplished the difficult feat of not falling completely over due to the pain, and because of this noticed his omni-tool flicker. This would have not been considered abnormal, as it could’ve been a glitch or a result of the previously acknowledged waning of power within his armor, but what would’ve made Shepard jump back, had he had the strength to do so, was the fact that his armor flickered as well, as though reality itself was glitching._

_Before John could even completely fathom what had just happened though, the electronic screech returned louder and more painful than it had been before, sending Shepard collapsing to the ground. While the prior screech lasted barely a moment, this one would not end, and as it continued his armor constantly flickered in and out of existence as the world around him began shaking and shifting. His armor eventually decided that it preferred not existing, leaving him in nothing but his black undergarments, and soon the world_  
_began taking a familiar form as the shrieking slowly faded and ended. The dark metallic wall on one side of him, the view of the great expanse of the universe on the opposite side, the sitting area, the bright fish tank full of colorful aquatic life, and a small collection of model ships_ above _the decently sized desk. His cabin in the Normandy SR2, the closest thing to a home he knew and he was lying on his bed, safe and comfortable. Then the world turned black._

Commander Shepard’s eyes shot open and his lungs filled with as much processed oxygen as they possibly could. Again he was in his bed, in his cabin, in his ship. A very surreal and peculiar nightmare was all the commander wanted to write it off as, but then he heard something as though it came from within his very mind.  
A whisper. A whisper that spoke no word of any language Shepard knew, or that Shepard even knew existed. But even without words, John knew what it had said and what it had told him to do.

Whatever or wherever that place was, Commander John Shepard had to find it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and if you did not like this chapter of the story please leave a comment with constructive criticism so that I may improve my writing. Or if you just have some helpful suggestions that is always welcome. Also apologies for the short first chapter, I hope to make longer ones in the future.


	2. A Plan

“Hey Shepa-” Joker stopped having gotten a look at his commanding officer. “You okay Commander? You like you just saw a ghost.”

Shepard looked at his usually sarcastic pilot, seeing nothing but genuine concern, John assumed he must have really looked affected by his abnormal waking call. “Yeah, I’m fine Joker, but…”

The usually collected commander was unable to think of a sane way to tell someone that he wanted to explore a planet he had no idea where it was or even if it existed, to find something that he wasn’t even certain what it was, all because a strange dream had told him to. This was the reason he had gone to the accurately nicknamed pilot first; the most Joker would do was likely make a joke about “the Great Commander Shepard having lost his marbles.” Whereas had he told someone like his XO Miss Lawson, they possibly would have attempted to relieve him of command, deeming him too mentally unstable to lead this suicide mission. Or maybe Shepard was overreacting and they would just tell him to let it go and continue on with the mission at hand. Either way, he had decided to go to his helmsman first as, even though he trusted most of his crew, Joker was his closest and most trustworthy friend he had had since joining the Alliance, and more importantly, the black ops organization Cerberus. He didn’t want to tell Garrus first, as Shepard feared he may not have completely understood, nor did he want to tell Tali as her opinion may have been too biased in a result of their blossoming relationship.

“‘But…’ what Shepard?” Joker’s still serious tone pulled Shepard out of his worrisome thoughts.

John decided it would be easiest to be straight forward. “I had a dream last night-”

“Woah! Let me stop you right there Commander, I know we’re close but not that close!”

The helmsman’s return to his usual joking personality relaxed Shepard a little, making it a bit easier on him.

“Not like that Moreau,” he spoke jokingly in return, then almost immediately returned to his serious demeanor. “The dream showed me something, some planet, and when I woke up I…I can’t explain it, but somehow I know there’s something on that planet that I need to find.”

Joker stopped, not daring to make some quip, being able to tell how serious his commander, and friend, was being. Jeff began internally debating how to handle this, and with his silence Shepard grew worried.

“I’m not crazy, am I?”

This made Joker stop with his pondering and just said what first came to his mind (like usual). “No, not at all. Actually that sounds a lot like the way that Prothean beacon back on Eden Prime told you that warning about the Reapers.”

That made Shepard stop, Joker had a good point there. Come to think of it, how did Shepard not realize that before? It could be more of that message, pointing him to an artifact that may help, in the war to come, against the Reapers. The one thing John didn’t understand was why he was getting this new message now; it wasn’t like he hadn’t been in this system before, so it couldn’t have been a range issue, maybe it was on a timer of sorts. After thinking about it, he deduced it was the most likely theory for the time being.  

“You’re a genius, Joker,” he eventually said breaking the silence his thoughts had created.

This made the pilot laugh, “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, most of which do not paint me in a positive light, and I know genius was never one of them. Actually a lot of them suggested the complete opposite.”

Shepard, having been completely relaxed at the realization that he wasn’t losing his mind, chuckled a little before saying, “All right, Joker thanks for helping me-”

“I helped?”

Ignoring his joke, “EDI?”

“Yes, Commander Shepard?” the synthesized voice of the artificial female intelligence, known as EDI, spoke.

“Where are Miranda, Jacob, and Mordin at this moment?”

“Dr. Solus is in his lab, though he made a request not to be interrupted as he is doing a sensitive experiment. Mr. Taylor is currently in the mess hall and Miss Lawson is in her office. Is there anything you would like me to tell them, Commander?”

“Tell Miranda and Jacob to meet me in the briefing room ASAP. Inform Mordin too, but be certain he knows to make sure his experiment is properly secured before he arrives. We wouldn’t want to have another incident like with the pyjak.” Shepard said before leaving the cockpit and heading toward the briefing room.

* * *

 

                “I think this is a waste of time, we should be focusing our efforts on acquiring the Reaper IFF we need to go through the Omega 4 Relay,” Miranda, Shepard’s Australian-accented XO, made her thoughts known after Shepard explained the peculiar situation.

                “The Reaper is derelict, so it and the IFF aren’t going anywhere,” Jacob, the good-hearted dark-skinned Cerberus officer, retorted. “I think it’s worth a shot. That is, if it’s possible.”

                “And there’s the big problem!” the XO exclaimed. “We don’t even know if it’s possible! We’re seriously considering one of the commander’s dreams, a goddamn dream! As enough evidence to warrant straying from our current mission! Am I the only one who sees how absurd this is?”

                Shepard sighed at their bickering, _‘It’s always an argument between the two of them isn’t it? I don’t see how they ever were able to maintain a romantic relationship.’_

“Alright, look,” Shepard attempted to ease the situation and hopefully convince them both it was worth the time and effort. “I’m not saying it’s a normal situation, actually it’s likely the most peculiar one we’ve ever been in. On the topic of whether it’s plausible or not, even I’m not one-hundred-percent certain if it is, but that’s why we’re going to wait for Mordin. If anyone has even the slightest chance of understanding this situation, it’s him.”

                “Thank you, likely said out of sentiment, but still a factual analysis.” The door to the briefing room opened as Mordin Solus, a fast-talking salarian scientist, entered. “Curious, what is this situation? Heard shouting, presumably out of frustration, possibly argumentat-”

                Shepard cut off the scientist, knowing he would endlessly make observations until he guessed the situation (possibly even accurately), and explained the curious predicament they found themselves in.

                Afterward, Mordin stood silent obviously mentally calculating, virtually the only time he ever was silent. Eventually, his calculations presumably finished, he spoke up, “Lot of unknowns dealing with Prothean technology, hypothesis: logical, plausibility: high. First step, must find the planet in this message.”

                “You heard Mordin, Miranda,” Jacob was the first to speak after the scientist’s analysis. “‘Plausibility: high.’ A Prothean artifact is worth a little setback in the mission.”

                “He also said we must find the planet, which, might I add; we have no idea where this planet is or where we would even begin to look in order to find it,” the Cerberus agent countered.

                “Have an idea, if the message showed Shepard the planet, it may lead him to it as well. I recommend going on the galaxy map, the beacon should do the rest,” the salarian spouted in his usual lightning-fast manner.

                “And if it doesn’t?” Shepard asked the question that at least Miranda was wondering.

                Mordin stopped for a moment to consider this, “Virtually impossible. Too many systems, too many planets, too many possibilities.”

                “Well then, I suppose we have our answer,” Shepard said in a way that told all participants that the meeting was at an end. “I will see if the beacon leads us to the planet, and if it does not, we will continue the mission as per usual. Dismissed.”

                At that, the four went their separate ways, Mordin returning to his lab to no doubt continue whatever experiment that had been interrupted. Jacob leaving to the armory to prep his weapons in case they found what they were looking for, and Shepard brought him along. Miranda returning to her office to finish the reports she had been filing before the debriefing. And Shepard leaving to the galaxy map, hoping what Mordin had said would be true.

                Uncertain what to do, Shepard opened up the map and zoomed out until he saw the entire Milky Way before him. He examined the map and the various star systems marked throughout, at first it appeared normal with only a single marker marking the Hawking Eta where the derelict Reaper was waiting. Then, he heard the screech again.

                The sound piercing through him, Shepard made a futile attempt to stop the sound by covering his ears, but as expected it failed. Yeoman Kelly Chambers was the first to notice the disturbance in the commander and approached him, concerned for his well-being.

                “Shepard, Shepard are you okay?” the red-headed yeoman said.

                Shepard, though, was unable to hear anything beyond the piercing screech echoing through his entire body. The _Normandy_ began swaying, along with the commander, and the CIC around him began slowly shifting into someplace else.

                Kelly, on the other, did not see anything other than the usually strong-willed and powerful Commander Shepard holding onto his ears and slowly rocking back and forth, more than likely about to fall soon. Because of this, Kelly grabbed his shoulders to steady him, it was at this point that other various crew members began to notice their commanding officer’s curious behavior.

                “Shepard, Shepard can you hear me!” Without a response, Kelly moved one hand to force him to look her in the eye. “John… are… you… okay?” She spoke her words slowly in the hopes that if he couldn’t hear her, he could at least read her lips.

                But at that moment Shepard was no longer in the CIC, at least to him he wasn’t. _He was on the mysterious planet again and, instead of the yeoman, a galaxy map stood in front of him, and instead of an increasingly growing amount of concerned crew, he saw clusters of stars in the distance. The galaxy map looked more different than usual, but in his current state Shepard could not figure out exactly what it was. On this map, the planet that he saw right in front of him, he did not recognize in the same way he would recognize something like Earth, but still knew exactly what he was looking at. It was the planet he was currently standing on._

                The second this realization was upon him, the shriek stopped, the world steadied, and he was back on the _Normandy_. He was surrounded by countless amounts of his crew, with Kelly holding on to him. Shepard soon began moving, he had not even realized he was doing so until he was back at the galaxy map, programming the coordinates he had, without realizing, memorized from the galaxy map from his… What could he call it; a vision, a hallucination, a message, but before he could decide on such a name, he had finished programing in the coordinates for Joker and he was lying on the ground, the world darkening. The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was an unfamiliar crew member shouting, “Commander requires medical attention. We need escort to the med-”

* * *

 

                After what only felt like seconds of pure black, Shepard found his eyes opening, the white and silver of the med bay greeting him. His head was surprisingly clear considering what had just happened and he was ready to get up and prepare to set out on the planet that had been calling to him, but before he could even sit up, he heard the sound of the med bay door opening and a voice calling out.

                “Where is he?” the slightly synthesized Russian-accented voice of the quarian, Tali, spoke from the other side of the room.

                “Tali he needs to rest, he’s not even conscious yet and it would be best not to force him awake,” the aged medical expert, Doctor Karin Chakwas spoke somewhere near Tali, obviously unaware of Shepard’s recent waking. “I promise you’ll be the first I tell when he wakes up, but it would be best if he wasn’t crowded when he does.”

                John didn’t know why he continued to feign sleep and eavesdrop, but he did.

                “I heard what happened, is he okay?”

                “He’s fine, there is no permanent damage, or any damage for that matter.”

                “Is what Miranda’s telling everyone possible?”

That almost made Shepard jump up that very moment, _‘What had she been telling everyone?’_ he thought to himself.

                “It’s certainly a possibility, we never knew the full effects that beacon would do to Shepard,” Doctor Chakwas explained. “This may just be something we weren’t able to foresee, Liara saw the immediate message, but as Miss Lawson has suggested there may have been more hidden deeper within his mind.”

                _‘Good, Miranda explained the truth to them,’_ Shepard thought. _‘At least she didn’t make some lie up.’_

                “Now, as I already asked,” Chakwas continued. “Can you please leave until he regains consciousness?”

                Before anyone could say anything further, the commander sat up. “Don’t bother I’m already up,” he said.

                John wasn’t even able to look up before a force hit him in the chest, as arms wrapped around him. “Shepard!” Tali called out as she pulled his sitting body into embrace. “You had me worried.”

                Shepard returned the hug before she pulled away. “I’ve had worse spills than this, you shouldn’t have worried.”

                “Always in combat. You’ve never just collapsed on the _Normandy_ before,” Tali argued.

                “Well it doesn’t matter now, I’m perfectly fine and I have a mission I need to do,” he said standing up.

                “Where do you think you’re going?” both the women exclaimed in unison.

                “You said it yourself, Karin, there wasn’t any damage done to me,” the commander explained. “And unless you want something like this to happen again, it would be best if I got whatever artifact that message has been bothering me about.”

                The last part silenced any objections the two may have had. Chakwas worried due to the medical nature, and Tali for more personal reasons, the threat of the situation reoccurring warranted him leaving without a proper check-up.

                Shepard immediately began heading to the cockpit to make certain Joker had gotten his last second coordinates. As he walked through the mess hall, though, many of the crew gave him looks, some curious while others concerned, either due to his seemingly mental breakdown or due to the realization that the Prothean technology he had tampered with almost three years prior still had a hold over him. It made Shepard uncomfortable, but he was known to be a rather personable commander, never one to use fear or rank to make them listen to him so he said nothing.

                As he approached the elevator he saw someone else already getting in and hurriedly stepped in, not wanting to wait for another. When he entered he was greeted by his good friend Garrus, a heavily-scarred turian.

                “Hey Shepard, good to see you up and walking again. Where are you headed?”

                “CIC, you?” Shepard responded.

                “Just doing my regular checkup on my guns,” he answered, pushing the button for deck two. “You never know with Taylor up there, always messing with all of them.”

                “Like I’ve told you time and time again Garrus,” the commander began, just as the elevator started moving. “He’s just doing regular maintenance, he does it with everyone’s, not just yours.”

                “I still don’t see why.”

                “It’s how he kills time between missions, like you and your calibrations,” it was at this that the elevator doors opened. “Speaking of missions, though, I need to go see Joker.”

                “Yeah I heard about that message rattling around in your head, just tell me if you want me come with on that mission,” Garrus said nonchalantly, heading off in the direction of the armory.

                Shepard began walking to the bridge when he was stopped by a particular yeoman. “Shepard, it’s good to see you back on your feet, you had me worried.”

                “You know you should never worry about the Great Commander Shepard,” he responded raising his hands in a faux-dramatic pose to add to his attempt at a joke.

                “Stop it, Shepard!” she said lightly pushing Shepard’s chest. “I’m being serious; you weren’t in good shape.”

                Shepard returned to his serious tone as he said his next words, “Thank you for the concern Kelly, but you shouldn’t worry, it’ll take a lot more than a Prothean headache to put me down.”

                This seemed to calm her, so Shepard continued on toward the bridge. While walking he continued to see the looks from his crew, the same that he saw down in the mess hall, and again he ignored it. His crew had the right to feel however they wanted and express those feelings however they wished, or at least that’s what Shepard kept telling himself, but it didn’t make him feel any more comfortable.

                “Well it’s good to see you’re still alive, it’d be a shame for Cerberus to spend all that cash to bring you back from being spaced, just for you to die from a migraine,” Shepard’s helmsman joked as he entered the cockpit. “Not to mention, you know, the whole Collector thing.”

                “Well on behalf of me and the galaxy, we thank you dearly for your deep, deep concern,” John joked back.

                “Good to see the Protheans didn’t kill your sense of humor. On another note, I assume you’re here because of those coordinates you programmed in.”

                “Yes, I presume were heading there as we speak?”

                “Actually, we’re already here, I guess it was closer than you thought” Joker answered, gesturing at the window.

                Shepard stopped, shocked at the revelation, but more astonished as he stared at the planet below. An orange-yellow color, speckled with brown, looking as though it were devoid of life, and likely was as from what Shepard could tell, it was uncharted. The planet wouldn’t have been anything of any particular interest to anyone else, but to Shepard it was as though he was staring at a planet made entirely of diamond.

                _‘This is it, we’re actually here,’_ he thought to himself, _‘We actually found it.’_

                It was the shackled AI, EDI who pulled him out of his trance, “We’ve done numerous scans and found the planet to be entirely lacking any organic life or settlements, also lacking anything of any monetary value. Though we did detect an area of the planet that appeared to block our sensors, our theory is this is where the potential artifact is being held.”

                “The Protheans had put in security measures, smart,” Shepard commented at the new information

                “You know since this planet hasn’t been discovered yet, we get to name the thing. I’m just gonna assume shithole is out of the question,” Joker remarked.

                “Actually, if you don’t mind Shepard I do have a suggestion for this topic?” EDI asked.

                “Shoot.”

                “Due to the unique nature in which this planet was discovered, I recommend the name Somnus, after an ancient mythological god of sleep and dreams. My searches have detected no other planets by this name.”

                “Well Somnus it is then,” Shepard agreed. “Are we ready to head down?”

                “Yes, Shepard, but I recommend just a small scouting party as there may be other dangers we may not have been able to detect, such as small airborne toxins too weak for our scans.”

                “Noted.”

                “Who would you like me to contact to go with you, Commander?”

                “My usual scouting party, Garrus and Grunt.” He found the combination of a long range sniper and a close range tank optimal for a scouting mission, even if there were no potential threats.

                “Yes, Commander.”

                At this, Shepard left to gather up his armor and equipment for the mission.

* * *

 

                Shepard, Garrus, and Grunt were fully equipped and ready for the mission, and were about to get in the shuttle to fly down to Somnus when they were interrupted by another squad member.

                “You are not going down there without me John Shepard!” Tali stormed into the cargo bay.

                Garrus sighed at this and entered the shuttle to wait for the couple’s squabble to be dealt with, and was soon joined by Grunt.

                “Tali, there are no hostiles detected down there, and you’ve never had an issue with me going on a mission without you before.” Shepard stated.

                “That is because you’ve never went on a mission where you could potentially be knocked out at a moments notice on an unexplored and possibly poisonous planet!” she argued, apparently having somehow learned of EDI’s warning.

                “I’ll be fine, Tali.”

                “You don’t know that! And I’m not comfortable with you going down there in your current condition at all, but I know you have to, so it would ease my worry just a little bit if I was with you in case something did happen.”

                Shepard sighed, Tali did have a point. And he did understand her worries as he would find himself quite nervous whenever she went on a mission that had a high risk of her suit getting damaged.

                “Alright if it will help ease your mind, then suit up and meet us back down here ASAP,” Shepard said, returning back to Commander Shepard rather than boyfriend John Shepard.

                As Tali left to get her equipment, Shepard turned to speak to his previously decided squad. “All right, sorry Grunt but it seems you’ll be staying in the _Normandy_ for this one.”

                And as the hulking krogan that was Grunt stepped out of the shuttle he shrugged and said, “It’s all the same, wasn’t going to get to kill anything anyway.” Then he went on his way back up to his room in engineering.

                Within ten minutes Tali returned, ready for the mission, and the three of them flew off in the shuttle, heading toward Somnus and the potential artifact, ignorant to the danger to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the next chapter of Nocturnal Demons. Like last time leave a comment for constructive criticism or suggestions, or even questions if you have any. Also for anyone here looking forward to the smut, I will make certain to add it no later than Chapter 4, but I may be able to include it in Chapter 3. Also because I feel the quality wasn't as good as it could've been (I'm not rewriting btw) I'm going to be spending more time on Chapter 3 and any chapter after that. Do not worry I won't be taking a month for each chapter or something like that, but in no way should you get used to a chapter a day. My guess is I may start releasing a chapter a week, though this is not set in stone so sometimes it may be less and other times more.


	3. A Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for saying there would be smut at the end of this, I did not realize how long the chapter was until I was almost finished writing it. So I removed the last scene that would've contained smut and it will be at the beginning of Chapter 4, along with more already planned for that chapter.

The shuttle flew out of the Normandy’s cargo bay, Shepard at its helm, and into the atmosphere of the newly named planet, Somnus. Looking through the windshield, Shepard admired the view of the stars and the ever-increasing planet below. No matter how many times he saw it, he would never get over the beauty of the sight of a million shining jewels, it looked more beautiful now up close than it ever did growing up back on Earth. Shepard didn’t know why, maybe the realization of his potential demise on his mission was finally kicking in, maybe it was this mess with the beacon, or maybe it was his relationship with Tali, but whatever the cause he found himself remembering his life back on Earth and what followed.

_‘John never knew his parents, they abandoned him at an orphanage in the worst part of Earth, or at least growing up it felt like there couldn’t have been anywhere worse. The only things they had given him in life was his name and his powers. It was because of this that the only thing he knew about his mother was that she must’ve been exposed to a lot element zero while pregnant, as he grew up to be a powerful biotic._

_This is what caught the attention of the Tenth Street Reds. At the time the young biotic could barely make his hand glow, but that’s all they needed. At the promise of a better life, John said his final goodbyes to the only place he knew. He may have hated the place as it was a constant reminder of how he wasn’t good enough for his parents’ love, but it was still where he spent his first decade of life, even if he had spent it hungry. John left the orphanage never to see it again and became the head enforcer of the Tenth Street Reds._

_Regardless of how young he was, most every person that was not a Red feared his biotic prowess. While in truth, because his lack of some sort of amp in accompany with his young age, the absolute pinnacle of his biotic power was being able to telekinetically throw a few pebbles about a yard away, a strong feat for his situation, but obviously not all that threatening. The Reds were the only ones who knew this, though, because no one knew much about biotics other than that they gave a person seemingly superhuman abilities. John’s gang used this ignorance to their favor, whenever anyone did not listen to the word of the Tenth Street Reds they would be threatened by John Shepard and his glowing hand, no one being courageous enough to call the enforcer’s bluff, they believed his power._

_Turns out though “the better life” the Reds promised John, was a better life for them, not him. At the orphanage John would always have the promise of at least a single meal, regardless of how small or good that meal was, as well as the promise of a bed, albeit broken, uncomfortable, and ratty one at that, but a bed none the less. Under the name of the Reds, John had to fight for any food or shelter he wanted, though many of the times he could do his glow hand trick to stop a fight before it could occur, sometimes he was too weak from hunger or fatigue to be able to, so he had to fight the old fashioned way. He couldn’t leave the gang though, because they had too much power over him, if he were to leave and they hadn’t been able to get to him, they would reveal the true weakness of his powers to everyone, and anyone he had threatened in the past with them would find him for some payback._

_So he stayed with the Reds for years, surviving starvation and many winters’ chill, until he was seventeen. It was around that time that they forced John to cross the one line he had yet to cross in order to survive, murder. During that time, people began putting John’s power to question, as no one had ever seen him do more than make his hand glow for years. At that point the young Shepard had improved to the point of being able to move standard sized rocks and various other objects, but was still unlikely ever to be able to use biotics combatively at his current rate of growth, without an amp at least. But in order to keep their best enforcer and their fear hold over their territory, they needed John to do a show of force. So the next person who put the Tenth Street Reds’ power in question was beat, bound, and escorted in the middle of the street where everyone could see, by John. They made the prisoner fall on his knees, and made John put a gun to the back of his head and… execute him._

_That made everyone fear the young, ruthless biotic and subsequently the Tenth Street Reds again. It also made John take that same gun that night and run. He ran, and ran, and ran, if anyone even resembled a Red he pointed the gun at him, even made his hand glow for good measure, and threatened them until they let him be. He was afraid and tired of running within a matter of weeks, and then he saw it, a bastion of hope, of asylum from his old gang, and most importantly a better life. An Alliance recruitment station._

_They trained him in combat engineering. They gave him an L3 biotic amp and trained him to master his powers. More importantly, though, they made him feel like an equal, he was not a lesser like he had been in the orphanage, and not an idol of fear like he had been with the Tenth Street Reds, but an equal._

_Then Akuze happened. He should not have survived, but then again the same could’ve been said about his childhood on Earth. The maws, everywhere, his comrades’ bodies, everywhere, death, everywhere. He had survived the same way he had survived the Reds, he ran, and ran, and ran. He heard the thresher maws’ cruel howls, he heard the screams of his brothers in arms, but most of all he heard his running feet hitting the sand. They called him a survivor, but he knew what he was… a coward. He swore from that day forth, no more running, he would fight anything that came his way. Then, Eden Prime and Saren, the beginning of the Reapers. Shepard kept his promise and he chased down Saren as_ **he** _ran. He survived again, but this time he survived by fighting, not running. The destruction of the_ Normandy SR1 _, he saved all the lives he could, he did not run, and he died. Then he did the absolutely impossible and “survived” death.’_

Four times he faced impossible odds and four times he survived to tell the tale, but Shepard feared he may not survive his fifth encounter, the Collectors and the Omega 4 Relay. As he stared down at the nearing planet, Somnus, Shepard hoped that whatever was down there would allow him to do just that. But either way, if he survived yet again or he did not, he would do it fighting, not running.

Shepard's thoughts ended just as Tali entered the helm and sat at the passenger seat. “How far are we?” she asked softly, staring off at the stars in the distance just as Shepard had little more than moments ago.

“Not much longer, we’ve almost breached the atmosphere.” If the planet’s atmosphere was thick enough, it would slow the shuttle down until it could pierce through it and enter, then it would return to normal speed. The _Normandy_ never had to deal with this problem, but with most uncharted worlds like Somnus, it was safest to keep the ship outside the atmosphere as with uncharted planets there were too many unknowns to risk it.

“You’ve been quiet, what have you been thinking about?” Tali knew him well enough to know when something was wrong, as did some other members of the _Normandy_ crew, Garrus included, but due to their relationship Tali was usually the only one who would say something about it.

“Just the gravity of our mission.”

“My guess is your talking about the Collectors not this planet?”

“Yeah, the suicide mission,” Shepard said, attempting to hide the worry in his voice, as he had to do with all his crew.

But Tali could see right through it. “You’re worried aren’t you?” she spoke quietly so that Garrus would not hear, knowing John would not want anyone else to know him as anything but the fearless and awe-inspiring Commander Shepard.

Shepard said nothing, but Tali could tell what answer that meant.

“You shouldn’t be; I’ve never seen a better leader or a stronger man than you Shepard, if anyone can pull it off with all of us getting out alive, it’s you.”

His response continued to be silence, at least to her _‘I’m no man, I’m a coward.’_ A self-loathing voice in the back of Shepard’s mind spoke. He silenced it, just as he had been doing for the past years of his like.

Luckily for Shepard, a shout directed at him stopped Tali from attempting to convince him further, “Hey, Shepard! How much longer you think it’s gonna be?” Garrus shouted from the back seats of the shuttle.

“Shouldn’t be much more than a couple of minutes,” Shepard answered. “Why, you getting antsy Vakarian?”

“You wish, Shepard,” the turian joked back.

“Well, even if you don’t believe in yourself, we believe in you, _I_ believe in you,” Tali spoke quietly to Shepard while leaving the passenger seat and heading back to the other seats.

The commander stayed silent for the rest of the short flight down to Somnus, barely hearing the small talk shared between the other two members of the scouting party.

If it had been any other member of the _Normandy_ ’s crew, he would have put on a fake show and told them, with feigned passion, he was confident that they could defeat the Collectors without a single casualty. Shepard never felt right lying to Tali, and even if he did he was certain she would see past his lies and know his true feelings. It wasn’t that he had no confidence in the squad he had put together, he was nothing but confident in their abilities and personally considered each one a friend. No, it was the fact that he had no confidence in himself and his ability to lead. He had lost his entire squad back on Akuze, he had managed to lose a dear friend, Ashley Williams, in his fight against Saren and Sovereign, and his decisions even left him responsible for the death of the Citadel Council. He knew he could lead small-scale, but he was uncertain if he could be the leader of something as difficult as this suicide mission.

Shepard pulled himself out of his contemplation as the shuttle finally breached the atmosphere and rapidly gained speed. Within little more than a minute, the small squad’s shuttle was landing on the lifeless planet. “Alright everyone, we’re landing just outside the sensor-cancelling area just to be safe as it may make the shuttle impossible to navigate,” Commander Shepard said. “Just let me do some scans for background toxins and we’ll be on our way.”

Shepard stepped out and opened his omni-tool, allowing it to scan the planet’s surface. The commander took this time to take in his surroundings; Somnus looked even worse up close, it was a desert, but it even lacked dead plant life like the deserts on Earth and otherwise. Covered with brown-red rocks, making the desert correlation even greater. It was always dark as the sun in this system was a decent distance away, though small amounts of its heat rays did manage to reach the planet, most of its heat came from its overly powerful magma core.

A short _ding_ indicated that the scan was completed, the results stated that no environmental toxins were detected. Shepard activated his armor’s advanced internal respiratory system (or AIRS) and removed his breather helmet. AIRS was designed to flush processed oxygen, that was stored within, directly into the wearers lungs at a regulated pace. Shepard found the helmet uncomfortable, but since AIRS could not filter environmental toxins or keep his head at the appropriate temperature for survival on certain planets and the void of space, he had to wear it often.

The commander set the breather back in the shuttle and motioned for his crew to follow.

“The environment’s clean of anything toxic.”

As the two aliens stepped out and followed their commander, Garrus asked, “So any ideas on where to look?”

 Shepard looked at the dead horizon in front of him, seeing no signs of anything at all, except for rocks, beyond his line of sight, he pulled out his Phalanx pistol and activated the flashlight underneath the barrel in the hopes of seeing further past the encompassing darkness around them. Past the shadows of night Shepard still found only a dead wasteland gazing back at him, that was until the screech played once more.

Unlike before when the unbearable sound rang through his entire being, the noise did not come from within his own mind, but instead was like an echo that rang out from the distance. Due to it now being external in nature, it no longer caused Shepard vertigo or being sent to a complete hallucinatory state. All that happened now was that the commander saw a glowing path lain before him, presumably leading him to the relic.

“The message is guiding me to the artifact, follow me,” Shepard said before he began to follow the path, not even bothering to look back to see if his squad had heard him. He was so close, it was his and it was calling to him, he needed to come and take it.

* * *

 

Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko began walking the seedy streets of the Terminus System station, Omega. He had never been to the station before and almost wished it would have stayed that way. Alenko had no issues with aliens and believed they were just as “human” as humans were, so this highly alien populated station would have been no issue with Kaidan, if it weren’t for the fact that the majority of its populace were criminals. Though he was not wearing his uniform, (it would’ve been a death-sentence) some of the occupants of the asteroid turned space-station could tell he did not belong, and this worried him and made him hope they couldn’t tell that he was Alliance.   

He had been contacted some time ago by a Council Spectre claiming he needed to speak to him urgently. At first, Kaidan was reluctant and uncertain, but after Admiral Anderson had looked into the Spectre’s past and urged him to meet with him, Kaidan agreed. The Spectre was a turian by the name of Diurnus Solghrian, a former cabal, a turian military trained biotic, and Kabalim, a commanding cabal. Various successful military operations, including the assistance in the capture of Shanxi during the Relay 314 Incident (The First Contact War), drew the attention of the Council who made him a Spectre, he was especially well known, for better or for worse, for never killing and always taking organic enemies in alive. Kaidan found the last fact commendable, having never enjoyed ending lives, but did so because sometimes it was necessary.

Ever since then, he’d been tracking down the turian. The initial location he had been given just led him to a man who had not been Solghrian, who instead lead him to another location, to another person, who did the same thing. And the pattern repeated itself over and over again, but the last informant he met had told him that he would be meeting the Spectre next and told him “to watch for the phoenix.”

Kaidan continued walking, constantly looking around for anything related to “the phoenix.” After he had walked a decent distance and for a decent time, Alenko began debating whether or not to give up. He saw nothing related to the mythological bird and there were more and more people watching him every passing moment. But he kept searching mainly because he was curious as to why there was so much secrecy; what had been so important that the Spectre had made Kaidan jump through so many hoops to find him?

Then he saw it. He was in the lower regions of the station when saw a golden phoenix painted on a wall in a dark corner. To anyone else this would appear as a random, meaningless work of vandalism, but to the Alliance officer this was what he had been searching for for some time. He approached the marking, and investigated the immediate area for anyone clinging to shadows, but when he found none he decided instead to investigate the graffiti itself. As he did so he began to hear footsteps coming from behind him, turning around, Kaidan expected to find either Diurnus or just an occupant of Omega passing by. What Kaidan did not expect was a trio of vorcha, with guns on their backs, approaching him.

Though, he had never met one himself, he had heard they were a vicious, savage race whom despised most other species. Alenko could see why they were considered this way by their appearance alone, but he did not allow their reputation to precede them, and decided to not judge these three for the stereotypes about their race.

“You, human!” the head of the trio shrieked at him, though come to think about it, Kaidan may have guessed that that was just the way they spoke.

“Um… yes, I’m human,” was his response.

“Human in our territory, leave now or we gut you!” _‘Yeah, that was just how they spoke_. _’_

Kaidan realized at that moment, that maybe stereotypes existed for a reason.

“I did not realize this… um… area belonged to you, but I am sorry to say I have business here and-”

“Bah! We warn human, but human keep talking! Kill! Kill!” The trio pulled the guns off their back, and Kaidan reached for his hidden Alliance-issue M-3 Predator pistol.

But before the Alliance sentinel could even pull his gun out, he was suddenly hit by a force, not bullets, but instead biotic energy that flung him across the area… and out of the vorcha’s gunfire. Hitting the hard metal was painful, Alenko was certain that he at least broke a couple of ribs, but unlike what those guns were going to do to him, he was still alive.

As he lied on the ground, dazed from hitting his head on the ground a bit too hard, he heard amidst the sound of the seemingly never-ending hail of bullets, a voice shouting.

“By the Goddess, can’t you be discrete!” raspy and roughly, it said.

Once out of his daze, Kaidan looked up from the floor he was lying on and saw a turian rush to cover and beginning to exchange fire with the vorcha, the turian being the Council Spectre Diurnus Solghrian.

* * *

 

Commander Shepard only realized after his feet and legs somehow ached (despite being covered by layers of combat armor) that he had been sprinting the entire way. Something within didn’t want him to stop, but Shepard thought it was best to do so for a breather and make certain his squad was not far behind.

As Shepard stopped, his AIRS began rapidly inserting oxygen to keep up with the amount of carbon dioxide he was exerting. His heart was beating rapidly to the point of it resembling a drum. _‘How long had I been running?’_

Soon a winded and fatigued Garrus Vakarian was at his side, followed soon after by a similarly conditioned Tali’Zorah vas Normandy. Once they all had caught their breath, Garrus was the first to speak up, still panting.

“Spirits, Commander! Did that- _pant-_ message also say something about fit - _pant_ \- fitting a month’s worth of cardio into a - _pant_ \- single run!”

Tali spoke next, having recovered faster than the males, likely due to their use of AIRS and her having her suit. “Keelah Shepard! What came over you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Tali!” Shepard spoke the first part louder and more tempered than he meant to. “I just- just need to get this thing.”

Garrus, having finally completely recovered, looked down the night-vision scope of his Incisor sniper rifle and declared, “Well it appears we’re here Shepard.” He handed the sniper to Shepard and continued. “I guess your race was worth it. I’d like to point out, though, that if a race was what you had intended, I would’ve won hands down, had you not given yourself such an unfair advantage.”

Looking down the scope, Shepard clearly saw what the former vigilante was referring to. It was a black pyramid-like structure, in the distance, similar to those he had found on various planets years before on his mission to stop Saren. The main difference between those ones and the one he was looking at, was that this one was much larger than the ones from the past, large enough to go inside and walk around a bit.

“Alright let’s move out,” John said handing the turian his rifle back.

They started walking toward it, Shepard keeping his pace with the rest of the squad this time, their guns’ flashlights lighting their way. That was until the commander saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

“Hold!” the commander whisper-shouted, also raising his hand to signal them to stop.

“Shepard this planet’s lifeless, what are you-” before Garrus could even finish that statement, the familiar shimmer of a tactical cloak deactivating a few feet away revealed a synthetic being standing before them, with a rocket launcher.

“Geth!” Someone shouted before they all jumped in separate directions to evade the approaching missile.

* * *

 

Diurnus couldn’t believe that this buffoon had helped save the Citadel, but he still needed him alive. He had watched, through his hidden cameras, this excuse for a soldier attempt to _speak_ with the vermin that were the vorcha. The Spectre didn’t like the idea of killing and preferred to talk his way out of situations, but all that the vorcha knew were violence, there was no talking with them.

He charged out of his hidden base of operations on Omega, and witnessed the vorcha pulling their guns on the Alliance officer. He reacted instinctually, blasting Staff Commander Alenko with a Throw field which propelled him out of the hostile fire.

Letting out his frustration through shouting, Solghrian spouted out at the soldier, “By the Goddess, can’t you be discrete!”

The turian veteran charged to cover, knowing the human would’ve survived, and began firing shots for suppression, causing the vermin to jump into cover as well. The former Kabalim only had a suppressor-modified Spectre-issue Paladin pistol with Overcharged Disruptor Ammo, a single flashbang for emergencies, and virtually no armor. Diurnus had made modifications to his standard Disruptor Rounds of which made them not only disrupt the potential shields of enemies, but stun any unprotected organic shot by them. The vorcha’s natural armor could prove to be a problem though, because of this.

Peering past his cover to look at the enemy, he assumed he could Warp at least one of the vermin’s armor, what he’d do with the other two… _‘Well like the human expression goes,’_ he thought to himself. _‘I’ll blow up that bridge when I get to it.’_

Diurnus stepped out of cover long enough to blast a Warp field at one, weakening its hardened skin, and proceed to empty his three shot clip into its chest. Once the creature began twitching before falling down unconscious, he returned to cover. This seemed to anger the remaining two who began shooting endlessly, regardless of ammunition or strategy, _‘No different than usual with vorcha.’_

Once he returned to cover he saw the Alliance officer taking cover behind the wall parallel to the one he was behind, with the gunfire in between the two coming from the hallway where the hostiles were.

“So! I hope you have a plan!” the Alliance sentinel shouted to Solghrian.

Indeed, he did, now that he had a second person beside him, it also helped that he had read Alenko’s file extensively and knew all his combat capabilities.

He shouted his plan to his newfound temporary ally, hoping the enemy could not hear it, “I need you to shoot the one on the left’s armor down! Use your Barrier if you have to!” Diurnus’s shots would have done nothing to the armor, not even damage it in anyway. A sad negative to his overcharged shots. “Once you do that wait for my signal and charge at the one on the right with an Overload!”

“Got it!” the human shouted back (if a bit uncertainly), immediately creating a biotic field around his body.

The cabal threw his Flashbang Grenade at the two hostiles, in an attempt to assist Alenko. While the enemies were temporarily disabled, the sentinel put in as many shot into the left vorcha as he could until the turian signaled him that the armor had been weakened. As soon as he did, though, the vermin had recovered and began shooting again.

The Spectre stepped out of cover and launched a Slam field at the weakened vorcha, who was then launched up and hit the ceiling and proceeded to be slammed straight into the ground. If he had been left conscious, he was too damaged to be able to get up immediately. As soon as that enemy hit the ground, Diurnus activated his Tactical Cloak and charged into the remaining hostile’s hail of bullets, hoping he would not be hit inadvertently. As he ran to the single vorcha, he felt the burning sting of a stray shot hitting his unarmored shoulder. He did not cry out nor did he even grab his shoulder out of pain, instead he bit the pain down and did not falter in his pace.

He managed to grab the pest as his cloak powered down, he grabbed its throat and squeezed just enough for it to submit and turned the beast around so it faced away from him.

“Alenko, now!” Diurnus called out to the ready soldier.

As soon as he did the human charged out, omni-tool ready. Diurnus took his talons off the vorcha as soon as his ally hit his hand against the beast’s head and activated the Overload, stunning the hostile and launching Alenko a few feet back, but he managed to stay on his feet.

As the Alliance officer recovered, clinging to his side, the Spectre decided he owed him an apology, “I guess you’re not as much of a buffoon as I thought.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he responded, slightly offended.

“ _Never_ try to talk things out with vorcha, violence is all they know,” noticing too much dark blue on his clothes, Diurnus decided to cover his wound with his hand to slow the bleeding.

“Duly noted… Wait how did you know that’s what I did? You didn’t show up until the guns started firing.”

With his free hand, Solghrian pointed to a few select corners of the area, all of which had hidden cameras. “Cameras everywhere around here. It’s easier than just hiding here all the time, waiting for you. They all tie to my base of operations here, it’s incredibly close by so we should probably get there before these things wake up. And to… you know patch up our wounds.”

Alenko began following him to his hideaway when he suddenly stopped.

“Hey, did I just hit my head _really_ hard, or did I hear you say ‘by the Goddess’?” the sentinel asked.

 “I don’t believe in Athame, before you ask, it’s just a bad habit I picked up.” That was true, he believed in the Spirits as many turians did, but when you grow up with an asari stepmother, you tend pick up those kind of things. “Now come on, I’ll answer any questions you have, regardless of how unrelated they are, in my safe house.”

* * *

 

Shepard barely dodged the missile launched at him and his squad, as he was the closest to it. His ears were ringing from the explosion, his vision distorted slightly either from the explosion or hitting his head on the ground. He felt as though he had been knocked out, but was uncertain. He found himself barely able to think when he found his arm being grabbed as he was being dragged away. John began to panic, before he realized it was Garrus getting him out of any further harm’s way, but as he collected himself, he pushed Garrus’s hand off of him and stood up. He was immediately yanked down to his knees behind cover (a very short, but sturdy rock wall), right before a sniper shot hit where he had been standing a second before.

“Thanks Garrus, that’s two times you’ve saved my ass within the last minute,” Shepard thanked his good friend.

“Well it isn’t the first time and I’m certain it won’t be the last,” was his response.

“What’s the situation?” the commander asked still slightly dazed from the explosion.

“Five geth: two standard troopers, two hunters, and a sniper on top of the Prothean pyramid-thing. Tali is over there,” he pointed to an obelisk-like structure of which Tali was leaning against, taking the occasional pop shot at the troopers (who were a few yards away taking cover behind a waist-high rock wall, though it was taller than the one Garrus and Shepard hid behind), with her Claymore shotgun, but still forced into cover by the sniper.

“What about the rocket launcher?” Shepard asked, what he felt to be, the most pertinent question.

“One of the hunters had it, we’re going off the assumption it only had the one rocket as it hasn’t fired another one yet.”

“Where are the hunters then?”

“The one with the missile launcher reactivated its cloak and we haven’t seen it since. The other one attempted to sneak attack Tali and she shot at it, but it got away, though it is damaged we still haven’t been able to find it again.”       

“All right then, I have a plan.”

“Let’s hear it Commander.”

Shepard patched his comm into Tali, “Tali, Tali do you read me?”

“Loud and clear, Commander,” his comm responded in the Russian accent of his quarian squad mate.

“Send out your Combat Drone and stop firing at the troopers, keep your attention on finding the hunters and hacking them as soon as you do. Understood?”

“Understood. You heard him Chakita, aim for the optics girl!” Commander Shepard assumed she forgot the comm was still on at the end.

Looking at Tali he saw her release her light purple combat drone, which she dubbed Chakita vas Paus, and the little floating thing avoiding sniper shots as it went to attack the troopers.

John then turned to Garrus to give him his orders, “Garrus I need you to use suppression fire on the troopers and snipe the sniper on my say so, got it?”

“Understood Commander,” Garrus then pulled out his Mattock assault rifle and began firing blindly at the troopers, forcing them into cover while Chakita ate away at their defenses, dodging their swings at her.

Shepard then stood up, the sniper’s attention on the combat drone whom kept evading its and the trooper’s attempts at killing it, and shot a very careful and precise Stasis field at the sniper, just as it shot Chakita turning its virtual body into nothingness as its VI returned to Tali’s omni-tool.

As the sniper’s synthetic body froze Shepard called out, “Now!” signaling Garrus as he swiftly switched weapons.

The next moment, three battle-winning moments occurred harmoniously. Firstly, Garrus fired three perfectly precise shots right into the flashlight-head of the motionlessness geth sniper, destroying it immediately. Secondly, Tali hacked into a geth hunter who had attempted to sneak attack Garrus, who then immediately turned, still in Tali’s command, and destroyed the other hunter whom the commander hadn’t noticed was about to shoot him. Finally, John activated his Tech Armor, leapt over his cover, and began charging toward the remaining geth troopers. The Tech Armor taking all the shots, leaving the commander unharmed, he ran in-between the two troopers and detonated the armor, destroying the machines and leaving the _Normandy_ commander relatively unharmed.

Now that the battle was over, Tali and Garrus regrouped with their commander at the entrance to the Prothean structure.

“What were the geth even doing here?” Tali asked the apparent question that stared them all down, demanding an answer.

“It’s obvious that they were sent here by the Reapers. I mean why else would they be here, there is nothing else of value on this dead planet, except for what’s in there,” Garrus pointed at the structure to emphasize his point. “Meaning they somehow found out about the artifact just like we did.”

“But what I don’t get is how?” Tali questioned. “We were only able to find it because of Shepard’s vision, so how did they?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Shepard boldly proclaimed. “What does matter is that we get the relic before they send more than just a scouting party.”

At that proclamation the trio headed into the curious Prothean creation before them. The inside was as dark as its exterior and big enough for the three of them to fit, and maybe walk around, but not do much else. Mainly, because of what lay in the center: it was similar to the Prothean beacon that had found on Eden Prime. A partially flat rod-like shape, simplistic, yet at the same time looked complex and technologically advanced, as ancient technology could be seen lining it, though it was slightly different than the one he had seen previously. This one was darker, rather than the shades of steel that the other one had, this one was an almost jet black. The other difference being the base which had been an angled rectangle like shape, while this one had a more half-sphere look about it. These were minor differences that appeared purely aesthetic.

Shepard began to approach it when a light three-fingered hand stopped him. “You remember what happened last time, don’t you Shepard,” Tali said.

John found an unnatural anger fill him as she stopped him from receiving what he had come here for. “Yes and you weren’t there, so you don’t,” he practically spat.

Tali held back her anger at him for speaking to her like that, believing it to be due to the stress of the visions and his eagerness to rid of them.

“But I heard what happened, and it may not be safe. It would be better if we just contacted Liara to extract it for examination.”

“They learned nothing from examining it before, they’ll learn nothing now! If anyone can understand it, it’s me!” he shouted uncharacteristically and pushed Tali out of the way and approached the beacon despite her reservations.

Once Shepard made contact with the beacon, it happened again just like before. He was pulled into it, experiencing visions, but this time he was unable to decipher at all what the message were telling him, unlike before where he could at least get a vague understanding. They were just images moving at lightning speed, too fast to even tell if they actually were images at all, and then the beacon exploded into twenty or so chunks and Shepard collapsed.

Hearing the words, “Shepard you better not go unconscious again, because I am not dragging your ass all the way back to the shuttle!” it was the unmistakable voice of Garrus.

Surprisingly Shepard did not lose consciousness, but instead almost did; feeling the world slowly slip away but then return again in the last second, it was a strange sensation. Then the commander stood up again within a matter of seconds.

“So you would rather leave your commanding officer in an unidentified Prothean structure than put in some effort?” John joked at his friend.

Garrus gave a light chuckle before responding with a feigned salute, “Of course not sir, every dutiful turian knows that they must put the well-being of their commanding officer over the well-being of their own back muscles.”

While the two laughed Tali remained silent, conflicted. She was happy Shepard was okay, but angry about how he had treated her, she decided to just act normal and not think too much about it for the moment.

“All right let’s head back to the shuttle. On our way back to the _Normandy_ we’ll contact Liara and tell her to send a recovery team before more geth arrive, so she can examine the pieces that are left,” John said after finishing joking with the turian.

“Sounds good to me, the sooner we get off this dead rock, the better,” Garrus said.

* * *

 

 Kaidan stepped into the Spectre’s base of operations that was hidden behind a false wall nearby the phoenix. The base was small, but no larger than it likely had to have been. There was a cot in the corner, a collection of monitors with footage of the unconscious vorcha currently on it at the end of the room, a little fridge-like thing beside the monitors, a table with a couple of chairs in center of the room, and off to the side there was a weapons locker and an armor locker.

“Take a seat,” the turian vet said, gesturing to one of the chairs at the table.

As the human sentinel sat down, Solghrian went over by the lockers and started grabbing something off to the side of them. He returned with a small, portable first aid kit, set it on the table, and removed some medi-gel to put on the bullet wound he had received during their fight. Afterward he turned Kaidan’s chair to face him.

“Remove your shirt,” the Spectre ordered nonchalantly.

“What?” Kaidan asked, surprised at the request.

“It appears most of the damage was done to your torso, so remove your shirt so that I may examine your injuries.”

“Oh,” Kaidan proceeded to take off the colonist shirt he had been wearing to blend in, and through it on the floor leaving it as an orange and brown puddle.

After examining his chest and sides for a minute or two, Diurnus declared his prognosis. “Three broken ribs and some light internal bruising. This should help with the bruising and maybe with the bones, but you should go to a real medical professional for those.”

He handed him some medi-gel which he began rubbing on his damaged side, with a gentle heat he began feeling a slight amount of the pain fading away.

“Thanks. When did you learn about human biology anyway?”

The turian turned and refused to look him in the eye, speaking his next words in a tone that should have resembled pride, but instead did not, giving off the opposite effect, “Turian soldiers are always prepared and must always know the enemy.”

“What does that mean?” Kaidan prodded the topic further.

“I’m certain you already read my service record. The turian government autopsied dead humans and made all its soldiers learn every last bit of their insides, knowing where to aim to kill, or incapacitate in my case,” he still refused to look Kaidan in his eyes, and now he understood why. “It’s not the same using the knowledge to heal rather than harm, but like I said you should still get that looked at by a doctor.”

Kaidan felt that most humans would feel enraged by this fact, but Kaidan understood why they did it and recognized the turians shame in his voice. “It was war.”

“Exactly, it was war,” he still spoke with a hint of shame, though. “That’s also the reason I don’t hate your species, like many of my stubborn kind. It was war and humans were the enemy, the war is over and humans are no longer the enemy, they should no longer be treated as such.”

Kaidan found that viewpoint admirable, he was beginning to like the Spectre. “Well it’s a shame not everyone can see that, but it’s good that someone can.”

“Well enough of that,” he stated a bit less somber than before. “Do you have any questions before we get to why I asked you hear?”

“At this point, no.”

“Alright, then. I needed you to meet me here, but it’s not about you; it’s about your former commander.”

* * *

 

Shepard was glad to be back on the _Normandy_ , and grateful for that mess to be sorted out. It was a shame that he couldn’t get more from the beacon, but knew that when the message was needed it would be sorted out.

Grunt had been a little upset when he learned that they had faced geth on the mission, but after promising he could come along on the IFF mission, he calmed down easily. Joker had joked that he was glad that Shepard wouldn’t be “seeing any evil clowns on CIC as some kind of Prothean warning against colorful wigs and big shoes.” Kelly had expressed her happiness of Shepard no longer having anymore freak-outs due to the visions. Mordin said he was disappointed that we hadn’t brought back at least one piece of the broken beacon for him to examine, but when Shepard apologized he admitted that he likely would’ve forgotten about it and it would’ve gone to waste while he focused on other experiments, and that it was in better hands with the new Shadow Broker. Tali and a few other crew expressed the desire for Shepard to go to the med-bay to make certain there were no adverse effects, so after checking up with most of his crew, he headed to Dr. Chakwas for examination.

“Hello Commander, it’s good to see you coming in for a check-up,” she greeted him.

“Hello Doctor, I was just coming in to see if the beacon may have caused any negative side effects.”

“I assumed as much. Come sit down on the examination table.”

Shepard sat down where he was directed to and went through basic tests that were standard procedure. Then he was asked many yes or no questions based on effects he could be having, all of which he said no to, until they reached the final question.

“Last one: I was told you remained conscious after touching the beacon unlike last time; do you feel at all fatigued, even if just mentally?”

“Actually, yes,” the commander answered honestly, he had been feeling much more tired than he normally did after a mission.

“That’s only natural, whatever the Prothean beacon did to your mind isn’t ordinary, it would likely leave a strain on you. Why don’t you lie down and rest on the examination table? It’ll also make it easier for me to do some more precise tests if you were asleep.”

At that Shepard lied down. When he did, though, he saw Chakwas locking the door and putting the blinds over the windows.

“Don’t get me wrong, Shepard, it warms these old bones to see you two happy together, but couldn’t you have waited to confess your feelings until after you no longer needed constant medical attention,” the _Normandy_ doctor joked. “Every check-up that takes a minute longer than it should and she’s up here making sure if you’re okay. It’s sweet, but it makes my job a lot more difficult than it needs to be.”

Shepard was drifting off to sleep within seconds of her doing this, he guessed he must really have been fatigued. But what Shepard couldn’t have guessed was the dark and surreal dream to come as he embraced sleep’s call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the latest chapter of Nocturnal Demons. Comment with any constructive criticisms, any suggestions, and/or any questions you have. Also feel free to tell me what you thought about Diurnus, for anyone that's wondering he's kind of like an infiltrator with biotics.


	4. A Request and Some Demands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd first like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter (just under two months!) and also would like to thank those who gave me support when everything started crashing down with the story, I was just too stressed to deal with it properly and you guys really helped. For more info on schedule/update changes see the notes at the end of the story.

_‘Shepard’s vision was clouded as he sat up. Distorted, unclear, uncertain; all he saw was her, bent over, getting something out of a drawer. His eyes narrowed on her ass, decently rounded and shaped, surprisingly firm looking putting into consideration her age, not too sizeable, but not too small. Overall, average for someone younger, but very nice for someone as mature as she was. And frankly, something it was something the commander found himself wanting, wanting it so much he was willing to take it no matter what._

_He found himself standing up on impulse, then began moving slowly and as silently as a shadow. He had not realized his pants were off until a hand began stroking his already hardening shaft… wait was that his hand? It was; when had he started doing that?_

_There was a cluttering on the floor, Dr. Chakwas had apparently found what she was looking for… and dropped it once she turned around and saw the sight before her._

_“What on **Earth** are you doing Commander?!” she exclaimed._

_Every movement Shepard had made before that moment had felt as though he was doing it impulsively, but that he had still felt, in one way or another, that he was making them. The second those words left her mouth, though, it was no longer like that. It was as though he was little more than a being living inside the shell that was his body while another entity controlled him, and he was forced to do little more than watch as the events transpired. He did not believe this completely, though, they were still his movements, his actions, and he still knew he was making them, whether he was deciding to do so or not._

_His hands left his, now completely erect, member and quickly grabbed her wrists to restrain her. She attempted to fight, to resist what she feared he would do, but her frail older form was no match for his well-kept military strength, leaving her attempts at resistance futile at best. He pinned her against the counter and proceeded to turn her body around, it was when he forced her to bend over that she began screaming._

_“Help! Help! Please help!” when the screams waged no response, as the med-bay was sound-proofed for morale reasons, she began directing her pleas to Shepard. “Please don’t do this! No, this isn’t you Shepard! Just stop now!” and many more like these continued._

_His left hand let go of her wrist and, with extra strength provided by a small biotic field, pressed it against her lower back, pinning her bent over against the counter and leaving him with a free hand. The free hand reached down and roughly groped a clothed ass-cheek, causing the doctor to stop begging for a second to let out a small scream. He felt the silk-cotton like feeling of her lab pants layered over the warm, firm flesh beneath his palm and fingertips. Once it had let go, it reached over and grabbed the waistband of her pants and yanked them down, but due to the angle and the pure primality of the pull, caused them to tear in half._

_His eyes wandered up and down long, surprisingly smooth legs. A hand slid along one, the skin was a bit loose and the muscles were not all that well-toned, you could tell it was the leg of a well-matured woman, but the skin was just as soft and smooth as it looked. When the hand ran back up to her rear, apparently he could no longer sate his lust this way, as his hand grabbed hold of her panties and tore them off of her body, throwing them on to the floor, in a single motion. Unlike her legs, her ass was likely the most youthful part of her. It was just as tight and firm as it had looked while covered, it had somehow even smoother skin than her legs, and, in some way, had even managed to keep a small bubbly shape. Her pussy did not appear inherently older, but at the same time looked like it had been used somewhat over the years, though surprisingly not as much as would be expected for a woman Chakwas’s age. It was mostly shaved, but with left a thin, steely strip above where her clit would be had she been aroused._

_Her snatch now exposed, the situation apparently became more apparent to Karin, as she panicked more and pleaded even louder. “Have mercy on an old woman Shepard! Please, you can’t get away with this, just stop!”_

_This had no effect, as all he did was begin lining up his tip to her entrance. She stopped pleading and began screaming instead as he shoved his cock balls-deep inside her, shoved being the appropriate word as her lack of stimulation caused her cunt to be dry as a bone. He pulled his hips back until only his head remained within her and then thrusted himself all the way back inside. His observation on her sex life turned out to be true, as her walls wrapped around him rather tightly, though not as tight as a virgin or prude, but much tighter than would be expected from someone at the woman’s stage of life. Though the sentinel knew he was not making the decisions, he still felt shame for the unmistakable pleasure he felt from entering inside his friend._

_He grasped her right cheek, both for further dominance of the doctor and his own body’s lustful desire. His fucking of her continued at the most rapid pace he could, though this was not very fast as how dry she was combined with the awkward lack of control he had with his left hand, made it difficult to hump into her quickly. In hopes of remedying this situation, John took his left hand off of her lower back and quickly grabbed her shoulder-length silver hair, roughly jerking on it until her head was looking directly upward and her back was arched. This allowed his thrusting to accelerate swiftly, and with every plunge into her folds he forcefully squeezed the mound of flesh in his palm, which would have left him more surprised if it hadn’t left bruises. What had been screams soon devolved into quiet sobs, presumably due to exhaustion and the realization of the futility of crying out for help in a sound-proof room._

_Soon enough Doctor Chakwas’s body began betraying her as her pussy moistened from the instinctual arousal it received from being filled with a hard dick, regardless of said filling being consensual or not. The wetness allowed him to fuck her even faster and had John receive even further shameful (and so damn amazing) pleasure, causing his body to let out animalistic grunts with every increasingly rapid thrust._

_The room filled with the sounds of quiet grunting and sobbing, but mainly the echoing of his hips slapping against her fine rear. Apparently, though, his body no longer content with just groping, began instead smacking her cheek. When his hand first struck against her backside it elicited nothing more than a surprised sharp intake of breath, Karin having learned that screaming would do little more than exhaust her quicker._

_Pounding into the doctor’s wet snatch soon grew too much for the commander as he felt himself barely being able to stop from cumming. He let go of her hair, causing her head and upper body to flop down onto the countertop, apparently having gone limp while he held on to her gray locks. Before she could make an attempt to escape or retaliate, biotic fields were placed around her hands pinning them to the surface. He then grabbed an ass-cheek in each glowing hand and squeezed, while he plunged into her damp folds much faster than he had before. Up until that moment John had wished he could just stop, but right then he wanted nothing more than to receive a proper sexual release, something he had been denied for far too long, despite how disgraceful it may have been. Apparently she had realized, due to his sudden shift in actions most likely, what he was going to be doing soon, which had caused her to begin letting out panicked screams, forgetting the desire to save energy in favor of letting her disgust of the situation get to her._

_It was not long before he felt the waves of pleasure grow too strong to contain any longer, and he then let out the loudest and most primal grunt yet as he came inside the screaming doctor. The second his sticky, white spunk had flooded her insides, her scream of protest quickly changed to a throaty, pleasure-filled moan of submission. Once every spurt of his load had been emptied into Doctor Chakwas, Shepard pulled himself out of her and fell to the floor from pure ecstasy-based exhaustion. He felt drained as it had been sometime since he had engaged in such activities, and the fact that it was a rather large release certainly helped._

_He propped himself up with his hands in time to see the once proud medical practitioner bent over, cupping one of her hands underneath her bare vagina in an attempt to catch the drops of his seed that spilled out. Once she had accumulated enough, she brought her hand up to her eagerly awaiting mouth and started lapping up the thick, white puddle with her tongue. When she had licked her hand clean, even going as far as to suck on each individual finger, she let out a long moan._

_“Mmmmmmm, nice, bitter, and salty,” there was a sultry purr to her voice that the commander had never heard, nor ever expected to hear, come from Karin._

_Her eyes were drawn to his softening member, shining with an unexpected lustfulness unlike her. “Maybe I should help you clean yourself up Commander,” he looked down at his crotch and saw the leftover cum, remnants of his prior load, along his shaft and head. She started approaching him and stopped upon almost tripping over the torn remains of her lab pants. “Oh, I suppose I’ll have to remove these ruined clothes, I’m sure you don’t mind.”_

_She then bent over to undo her boots, whilst doing so she waggled her behind and sopping wet cunt in an attempt to draw his attention there. The right cheek was practically scarlet from the spanking, with five deep, purple bruises, the left side looked normal besides the five brown bruises nowhere near as deep as the ones opposite of them. Once she stood up and stepped out of her boots, her destroyed pants fell off, leaving her lower body completely naked. She reached up and started pulling off her gloves and lab coat, both untouched by his previous actions._

_Once removed, she stood in nothing but a simple black bra, which she wasted no time removing, springing free her ample breasts. Her tits were proportionately sized, but no overly so (likely C-cups); her maturity had had a small effect on them, a couple of age spots here or there and they were a bit droopier than average for her bust size. Despite time’s minor effects on her rack, it was in no way an unpleasant sight, no matter how much the commander attempted to deny that fact to himself._

_Chakwas let out a small chuckle. “Are you enjoying the view Shepard?” she stood with her hands on her cocked hips in an attempt at a seductive pose, before lowering herself onto her hands and knees and started crawling naked toward her commanding officer._

_She continued crawling until she was in between his legs and right in front of his now flaccid (but certainly trying to rectify that fact) cock. “I mean, cleaning you up is certainly the least I can do after you gave me such an **amazing** railing Commander.”_

_Suddenly a hand shot out and smacked the doctor across the face, it was his hand, yet another action he did not want to make. “You will address me as Master from this moment forward. Have I made myself clear?” The words had come from his mouth and in his voice, but John knew he had not said them._

_Chakwas had collected herself, “Yes, Master.” Her face had a red mark across cheek from where his strike had landed._

_“Good, now continue as you were.” Again the words were spoken without him saying them. They did not sound normal to him, they sounded like distant subconscious thoughts vocalized without permission from his mind._

_She then began running her tongue along his dick, leaving trails of saliva where his jism used to be. Her wet and soft tongue was undeniably pleasurable, it had also been a long time since he had received oral, and he more than missed the feeling, despite how wrong this situation was._

_His eyes looked down to see what her hands were doing while her mouth was occupied. One of her hands was fondling one of her breasts, massaging the flesh and rubbing the small, hardened nipple. The other was busy pleasuring her recently used hole, circling her exposed clit and eventually even fingering herself with two of her digits, leaving a puddle of her arousal on the floor beneath her._

_Right as she was almost finished with the polishing of his pole, though, he felt it begin to recover and reharden from the stimuli it was receiving, much to the surprise to all parties involved. But just as the ecstatic recently awoken sex slave began to size her mouth up to engulf the newly erect member down her throat, her master’s vision began to fade away.’_

* * *

 

Kaidan sat listening, outraged by what he heard. _‘Shepard, it’s always about Shepard, even when he’s betrayed the Alliance.’_ He tired of all the press and credit his former commander got, _‘The Savior of the Citadel; he wasn’t the only one fighting Saren and the geth that day.’_

Granted, Alenko couldn’t deny that the first human Spectre was a good soldier, an amazing leader, and even a caring friend at the time. The battles they fought, the lives they saved, the lives they _lost_ , and the talks they had. Conversations about politics, their respective pasts, friends, family, he truly considered him to be the best commander and friend he had had back then. But knowing what he was doing, who he was working for, betrayal didn’t even begin to describe how he felt. And to know that everything Kaidan went through to get here, to this meeting with the turian Spectre, was just about Shepard, frustration was expected.

“What about Shepard? What about him was _so_ important that you had me almost die getting here?” the staff commander stood up in a fit annoyance.

“The council has a mission for him,” Diurnus approached the slightly aggravated human. “And how about you quit acting like a child, start acting like a soldier, and treat me with the respect you should give to the man who saved your life, and hear me out.”

The Alliance sentinel realized how his reaction made him appear and promptly calmed down, “Alright, I suppose you’ve earned that much.”

“Good, now take your seat,” Kaidan did as asked and Solghrian sat across from him. “Now as I was saying, the council has a mission for Commander Shepard. The mission is of a sensitive matter; this is the reason why we needed you, but more on that later.”

The Spectre pulled out a holo-pad and handed it to the human. He looked at it, on it was a picture of a group of people from a distance, seemingly unaware of the hidden camera. The group of people were all wearing armor similar to that of some of the gangs in the Terminus Systems that he had seen some footage of. But instead of the yellow or blue of the Eclipse or the Blue Suns, the armor was white, and the logo on the chest piece was a human skull painted in black with red crosshairs on it, it was not a gang symbol Alenko was familiar with.

“Those are the Purifiers,” Diurnus clarified. “A newly formed anti-human gang that, a few short months ago, were little more than a rumor. I was stationed here on Omega, where it was believed their base of operations was, in deep cover to investigate these claims. What you have in your hands right now is the bulk of what I managed to find.”

Kaidan switched to the next picture. The same people, the Purifiers, were standing watching one particular member in the front of them. This person, presumably the leader, was wearing the armor but lacked the helmet that everyone else wore which allowed him to see that it was an asari, but was unable to make out any distinctive features of the alien due to the distance and awkward positioning that the picture was took. The leader was standing next to a group of blindfolded and bound humans who were on their knees, obviously prisoners of some sort.

The Alliance Staff Commander switched to the next picture. Those same humans were pushed to lay on the ground with a number of gang members standing over them, guns pointed to the captives’ heads. He switched it again and immediately regretted it, he slid the holo-pad back to the turian. The next picture had contained the actual execution, and he was unable to look at it for more than a second.

“There’s more evidence than just those pictures, if you would like to see,” Solghrian offered, speaking in a sympathetic tone.

“I’m good; I get it they’re some really bad people,” the human declined. “But why does this concern the Council, these kind of groups aren’t anything new?”

“I’m getting to that. I was sent here to not only investigate their existence, but also rumors of a plan to assassinate the Council.”

“Why would an anti- _human_ organization want to kill the council? I would get it if it was just Councilor Udina, but why the whole Council, especially just two years after the death of the previous one?”

“They believe the new Council is bowing down to human demands and are little more than puppets to ‘their human overlords’,” Diurnus sighed. “Idiots.”

“But what does this have to do with Shepard?”

“ _Again_ I’ll get to it. My investigation turned up their existence, obviously, but I was unable to get _concrete_ evidence of their plan against the Council, but I was also unable to _dis_ prove the accusations. This has them worried, but sending even a small squad of Spectres into Terminus Space on an assault mission could possibly have drastic repercussions, unless we were to have irrefutable evidence of conspiracy against the Council’s lives.”

“So you want Shepard to find this evidence.” Kaidan inferred.

“No,” the turian shot down the idea immediately. “The only possible evidence of the accusations would be held in Aservia, the leader of the Purifiers’, quarters.” Alenko surmised that that was the Asari he saw in the pictures. “Even with all the reconnaissance training the turian government could provide, there was no way I would’ve been able to infiltrate that room without knocking out at least a handful of guards, which would not be good for business to put it plainly.”

“So what are you saying?”

“What I am saying is, if even a single Citadel agent is caught having an affiliation with the assault on their base, it could mean potential war at worst. But if a disgraced former Spectre now proven to be working for Cerberus, and known for his escapades against organized crime on Omega, were to wage a battle with a known anti-human organization… Well you’re not _that_ stupid, so I’m sure you see where I’m going with this.”

“You want to use him as a scape-goat.”

“ _I_ don’t want to use him for anything. The Council is the one using him, and not even as a ‘scape-goat’ as you put it. He’s done many things like this, and _he_ can’t cause an intergalactic incident. He would just be dishing out some street justice, something that isn’t all that uncommon on this spirits-forsaken station.”

“Let me guess I’m supposed to be the messenger.”

“Exactly. See I told you, you weren’t that stupid,” He sarcastically clapped without passion. “I can’t exactly message him; it could potentially invalidate all our cautiousness beforehand, if there was a message trail they could follow. If _you_ message him, it’s just two old friends wanting to reconcile with one another.”

“But couldn’t the message you sent me be traced?” Kaidan poked a hole in his logic.

“No. I ‘discreetly borrowed’,” He actually used air quotes to emphasize his point. “a terminal from a local shop and proceeded to break it after the message was sent. Coupled with the fact that I never said that it was me who was messaging you and had you go through all my contacts, who by the way also have _very_ little documented ties with me, there is nothing that ties the two of us together.”

It was true, the message came from an “unknown sender” and the only thing that referenced it being Diurnus was a sentence that stated he “should look into a certain Diurnus Solghrian.”

“I hate to point out another flaw in your plan, but couldn’t you just have done that with Shepard.”

The FCW veteran sighed and put a talon to his forehead. “I’ve been doing this for a lot longer than you kid, I know what I’m doing.”

“Though he’s not constantly being spied on,” the former Kabalim explained. “If the commander just up and leaves from planet to planet, from system to system, to meet with mysterious contacts… Let’s just say someone would notice and there may have been more than just vorcha greeting him when he arrived here.”

“Alright, I get your point. But how can you be certain he’ll do the job?”

“Well besides the fact that everything I’ve read about him suggests he would be more than willing to stop an organization like the Purifiers, you mean. The Council’s offering him to have his Spectre status reinstated, discretely at first of course, and once he finishes his mission against the Collectors they will announce it publicly in the “wake of his heroic endeavor.” That is if he survives, if he doesn’t it will be rewarded to him posthumously for his “noble sacrifice.” Also, as a bonus, any crimes that he may or may not have committed during his mission will be pardoned.”

“Oh,” he continued, “and in case you were wondering; if you agree to be the Citadel’s non-official messenger boy, there is a possibility that the promotion of Major will be in your near future. And, I’m not making any promises, but if you do this with the utmost discretion, I _may_ put your name in a list of potential Spectre candidates. You won’t be anywhere near the top of said list, but it’s still something.”

“So all I’d have to do is get Shepard to take out the gang?”

“You would have to contact him under the guise of reconciliation, meet in an inconspicuous location, and inform him of the job and where to meet me. Is it a deal?”

Kaidan thought this through. Sure, the Purifiers were very, _very_ bad people who definitely needed to be stopped, and his former commanding officer was well-equipped and skilled for the job, but he would just be being used by the Council and for what? Another meaningless title that the man who was practically a legend at this point had already received and lost? Freedom from crimes he was unlikely to be charged with in the first place?

Alenko couldn’t find an answer amongst the sea of thoughts turned into a tidal wave of confusion and uncertainty.

“I-I’m going to have to think this through some more.”

Solghrian remained silent for a moment, processing the human’s answer. He calmly stood up from his chair and gestured to the exit. “When you make up your mind do not, and I repeat _do not_ , contact me. Contact Shepard and do as I asked if you decide you want to help, and if you decide against it tell Admiral Anderson or Councilor Udina. It is imperative that you do not attempt to contact me again after this. Are we clear?”

Kaidan stood up to leave as he was directed, “Crystal.” Then he was suddenly stopped by Diurnus handing him the holo-pad from before.

“Extra incentive if it’s needed, that is if you decide to help,” He started to walk off, showing the Alliance sentinel barely any attention now, putting it elsewhere. “If not, break it, delete the information, hell even keep it if you want, I have all of it and more backed up. Whatever you do, though, just make sure it is kept secure and away from prying eyes.”

He again turned to exit, but stopped, this time it was he whom stopped himself. “What do I do if the vorcha have woken up?”

Still disregarding him and now working on a terminal, the cabal said, “You either shoot at them or run away. It is a simple concept, one that I am surprised you haven’t grasped yet.”

* * *

 

The commander’s eyes shot open as he awoke, fully dressed, lying on the examination table in the med-bay. His mind panicked as the memories of his dream played once more. Despite everything in his being telling him it was nothing more than that, Shepard looked up and down the room, trying to find anything that would prove or disprove the reality of said events.

He saw no bodily fluids or torn clothes strewn around the floor, and the contents on the countertop were, more or less, as they were when he first entered the room. He sat up to see Chakwas looking through some sort of microscope-like thing (John never really got into medicine and such), possibly something to do his results or possibly something entirely unrelated to him. Her demeanor was that of the proud and professional doctor he knew, and not of the sex-crazed, dignity-lacking woman he had seen nearing the end of that nightmare.

Shepard swung his legs over the end of the table and got off what had been the harbinger of the horrid terror. His combat boots stomped onto the floor as he did, eliciting no initial physical reaction from the medical practitioner.

“Good, your awake,” she started, not bothering to look away from what she was doing. “Another few minutes and I would’ve had to wake you myself.”

“Yeah, I uh,” he pressed a hand against his forehead and physically shook his head, as though attempting to shake away the thoughts of the vivid dream and its contents. “Uh, never mind. What did the tests say?”

“Every test shows no sign of trauma or adverse effects, as expected. I’m finishing up the final one now, but it’s nothing vital and likely won’t show anything new,” she spoke in her all-business tone that she normally did when speaking of her practice. “I only bother doing it for the purpose of being thorough.”

“So I’m fit for duty?”

“Well you have an overwhelming amount of stress, but I suppose that’s normal for a mission of our caliber. I do recommend attempting to relieve some of that stress or else there is a possibility that your scarring may reappear, regardless of the surgery,” she then stopped, possibly realizing how it may have sounded. “But this is nothing that would keep you out of the battlefield, just a personal recommendation.”

“If that’s the case, then I guess I’ll be on my way. Thanks for the checkup Doc,” John began walking toward the door.

She lifted a hand off the unnamed medical instrument she had been fiddling with since he had awoken and gave a half wave and a half shooing motion and said, “Please, it’s my job Commander, no need to thank me for it.” Then she resumed what she had been doing before his interruption.

He reached to exit the door, but the red icon in front of him was a reminder of her having locked the door. Without any verbal cue, the doctor apparently remembered and opened her omni-tool. With a single button push she unlocked the door, turning the halting red into a welcoming green.

“Also, though Tali tried stop by while you were asleep (as to be expected), I was surprised to see Miss Lawson attempting to open the door. You may wish to see what she wanted.”

Shepard opened the door and stepped into the threshold between the med-bay and mess hall, “I’ll make sure to do that.”

Once he had stepped into Deck Three and the door closed behind him, he stopped and exhaled a tightness that had been growing in his chest for as long as he had been talking to the _Normandy_ ’s sole medical examiner.

 _‘That nightmare had been… had been…’_ Shepard couldn’t think of a word to describe the vileness of the events that transpired during. It had been sometime since he had been able to let out some of his sexual frustration. After he had been “resurrected”, so to speak, he had been concerned about discovering what had transpired during his two years of being dead and trying to recruit squad mates for the mission. These reasons, along with him just not being like that, were what had him decline a few “requests” from the occasional fangirl on the Citadel. Now he was in the start of a relationship with Tali, of whom could not leave her suit, coupled with the fact that he wasn’t going to pressure her into such proclivities, had left him without a proper release for some time. But even putting this into consideration, he couldn’t make sense of why he would dream of such horrific things. He had been through longer periods of time without sex, and his mind had never resorted to this before.

He had to brush it off, he had to consider the fact that he had never been in a mission as stressful as his current one, and that may have been what led to it. He couldn’t let it distract him so much, he didn’t need his leadership affected making it worse than it already was. He deeply exhaled again, attempting to alleviate these thoughts from his mind.

He walked through the deserted mess hall in order to get to Miranda’s office. He looked around to see no crew on the deck, meaning everyone had gone to sleep, leaving only the “night” crew whom tended to stay on Deck Two and Four where they would make certain no vital system would just randomly fail and kill them all. Night was a rather loose term when you’re constantly traveling from planet to planet and from system to system, all of whom had different solar cycles. So rather than night and day, crew would work for a certain amount of (Sol) hours and then sleep afterward for another set amount of (Sol) hours, unless there was anything that required any immediate professional attention or supervision.

The emptiness and silence was relaxing, and helped clear his mind. The only sounds were his slow footfalls, ever so steadily making their way to his destination, and the steady, almost silent, breaths.

When he had reached the door to her quarters, John noted the green icon that meant it was not locked. Assuming this meant she was still awake, he opened the door to see his XO sitting behind her desk, presumably filing reports as she always seemed to be doing.

“Oh, Commander; Doctor Chakwas told you I tried to speak with you, didn’t she?” was how he was greeted.

“Yes she said you tried to stop by,” he answered, his voice becoming more concerned with the next words he spoke. “Is something wrong Miranda?”

“No everything’s fine Shepard. I just wanted to say that I was glad to see that the mission went well, especially considering the surprise attack from the geth,” she spoke in an all business tone, that at this point must’ve been second-nature because she quickly caught herself and added in a more relaxed tone “And I’m glad to see that you’re fine.”

“Come on Miranda, we both know that you wouldn’t go out of your way just to congratulate me on a mission well done. What’s really going on?”

She let out a short chuckle. “There really is no hiding anything from you, is there?” She tried to sound playful, but it seemed just as disingenuous as her laugh had been. She exhaled a sigh, then continued speaking, the faux-playfulness gone.

“You know I’m stubborn Shepard, I’ve never tried to hide that fact.”

“I would say you were more strong-willed or determined than stubborn, but go on.”

She let out a chuckle, this time a genuine one. “Dammit Shepard, this is had enough as it is,” despite her words, she spoke quite light-heartedly.

She exhaled, attempting to extrude the fun from her body, leaving nothing but seriousness. “But because of this fact it isn’t easy for me to admit when I’m wrong and even less so for me to apologize for aforementioned wrong-ness.”

“What is this about?” the commander asked perplexed.

“I’d like to apologize for the way I reacted to your proposition of finding the beacon on Somnus, I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

“It’s fine Miranda, I’m sure you had your reasons.”

“No it’s not fine and no I didn’t,” she sighed and stood from up from her desk, and began walking toward the couch in her office. “I’ve been stressed and I dealt with it wrong by lashing out at you.”

“What’s been causing this stress?” he followed her lead and stood opposite of her.

“It’s Oriana,” she said turning away from him, staring out the window.

“What’s wrong? Has your father found her again?” he asked, not hiding the concern in his voice.

He cared about Oriana more than just because she was his XO’s sister, but because he didn’t want another adolescent exposed to what Miranda was, being treated as a concept of legacy rather than a person. He knew Oriana was technically an adult and that she already knew the darkness of the world, but he did not want someone still so young to experience it firsthand. It reminded him the reason why John did what he did, he wanted people to keep their youthful innocence, something that was taken from him so long ago.

“No, she’s fine it’s just…” she sighed and turned to her commander. “I spent so much time trying to _save_ my sister, that I never learned how to _be_ a sister.”

“Oh I get it now.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, a hint of an offended tone in her voice that she was trying to hide.

“Well you can’t deny that you’re not the most socially adept person, and trying to socialize as a sister wouldn’t be that easy.”

“You’re right,” she sighed again. “I guess it’s not easy to accept that I’m not able to do this. I’ve always excelled at everything, I was made to be perfect, but I guess love wasn’t something that was planned for me.”

“You’ve been in contact with her regularly?”

“We’ve been talking over the extranet, sometimes I wish we could meet in person, but other times I realize that the less personal it is, the easier it is for me.” She was normally good at concealing her true emotions, likely a skill for undercover work or otherwise, but this time it seemed she made no effort to hide the distraught in her voice. “But still, it would be nice to actually see her.”

“If you want we can schedule a last minute shore leave and set a meet up for you and your sister,” he offered.

“Oh… no don’t Shepard, I’m sorry I was just thinking out loud. The mission takes priority, Commander,” she then looked in the _Normandy_ commander’s eyes and saw that he was genuinely concerned and wanted to help. “But if we survive I may take you up on that offer.”

“Good, now get some rest, Captain’s orders,” he said, turning to leave.

“Your rank’s Commander, not Captain,” she gave out a light chuckle. “But I’ll take the orders under consideration.”

He stood in the doorway about to leave when he stopped. “We _will_ make it out of this, Miranda.”

“I have complete confidence in your leading abilities, Shepard, but thank you for that and… well everything.”

 _‘At least one of us has confidence in me,’_ the self-deprecating side of him thought. He gave her one final smile before the door closed behind him.

Sometimes he questioned whether it was good or not that he lied to his men about his confidence in the mission. But every time he thought about it, he knew that it was the right thing to do because it gave _them_ confidence. Somehow, he had a quality that Miranda had best described as: “that fire that makes someone willing to follow you into hell itself." How he had this was a mystery to him, but it was something he had to get used to, and to make certain he did not use it poorly, as in his position, the costs could be dire.

He eventually made it back to his cabin and decided that he needed to distance himself from these thoughts as they would just become another thing on the list of stresses Shepard had to deal with. He stripped out of his fatigues and remembered the other attempted visitor to the med-bay, and was too exhausted to deal with it for the time being.

“EDI,” he called for the shackled AI.

“Yes Commander?” the monotone voice spoke.

“Message Tali if she’s still awake and tell her that I’m fine. If she’s asleep don’t bother, I’ll speak with her later.”

“On it Commander.”

He then lied down on his bed, hoping to get some rest.

* * *

 

Diurnus felt his body shake as the annoyingly energetic club music that Afterlife always played began growing louder as he approached the seedy lower section’s entrance. The criminal and vorcha infestation was something he had to deal with, if he had even _managed_ to get into the upper sections he would have been too exposed and could’ve been discovered. So the darker the shadows and the deeper into the depths of this hellhole he was the better. Besides, looking at the silver-lining, at least the music was more muffled down here.

He was greeted to the red-tinted lighting of the virtual fire along the walls as the door opened. The turian walked toward the bar, caring not for any of the other patrons of the sleazy nightclub. He stepped up to the bar and got the attention of the salarian bartender, ordering the strongest dextro-based drink he had.

He drank slowly, finding his eyes staring into his glass as he distanced himself, losing the internal battle with thought. He found an emotion bubbling within him, _‘Frustration or exhaustion… I can never figure out which one anymore.’_

Alenko had been his last hope of getting a hold of Shepard. He had tried to find other members of the former Spectre’s crew, but every time he did there was one reason or another that prevented him from being able to contact them.

Urdnot Wrex had returned to Tuchanka in hopes of unifying the krogan clans. And for more than obvious reasons, if a turian showed up on Tuchanka and requested to speak to Urdnot’s clan leader, Spectre or not, it likely wouldn’t have ended well.

Last Solghrian had heard Tali’Zorah vas Neema (formerly nar Rayya) had returned to the Migrant Fleet and was doing highly sensitive missions of her own. Even with there being no real hostility between the turians and the quarians, it was unlikely they would give him the information he sought. He had also heard rumors from some of his contacts that she had joined backed up with Shepard, whether these were true or not didn’t matter, as either way he wasn’t going to be able to get her assistance.

No one had seen nor heard from Vakarian in some time. After Shepard’s death he had rejoined C-Sec, eventually quit for reasons of his own, and then disappeared entirely. Even with the excessive amounts of contacts the Spectre had, no one had managed to find him; one of his contacts recently claimed to have seen Shepard fighting beside a turian, but had been unable to make out any facial characteristics due to a helmet. So, again, if by some small chance that that had been Garrus Vakarian it wouldn’t have mattered.

When it came to Liara T’Soni, it seemed the spirits had a cruel sense of humor. Doctor T’Soni had stayed in the public light for some time, being a rather prominent information broker located at Nos Astra trading port on Illium. But, when Diurnus’s mission called for it, she had disappeared; the information he had gotten told him, that for whatever idiotic reason, she had been trying to track down the Shadow Broker, so it was likely it didn’t end well for her.

He sighed then took another drink. _‘He hadn’t explicitly said no, so maybe I shouldn’t be too frustrated.’_ Well, he had his answer, it was exhaustion. He was almost fifty, or maybe he was already, time is a hell of a thing, especially when it’s one battlefield after another. As a Spectre it’s less actual battlefields but it was still just another fight, no different than before.

Duty is all that’s important to turians, ‘ _If you don’t die in a battlefield you’re not a real turian.’_ Diurnus was reminded of the phrase his father would always say to him, though his father had always said it with shame in his voice.

_‘The Solghrian father had been a proud soldier, but when his wife, Diurnus’s mother, passed he had to take leave to take care of his infant son. When his child was old enough to go to school, he returned to the field, but in his first fight back (against some batarian slavers) he was injured, one of his legs had been blown off. He was treated by an asari matron nurse, whom he soon fell in love with and married becoming young Diurnus’s step-mother, Philara._

_The three of them moved onto the Citadel, his dad getting a job behind a desk in C-Sec. Some years later him and Philara had an asari daughter, Lisarius, a half-sister for their son. It was a family of sorts for some time. Though, in his later years, Mr. Solghrian confessed to his son how he had sometimes wished he had died during that fight with the slavers, ‘If you don’t die in a battlefield you’re not a real turian,’ he had said._

_Out of desire to serve his race, his father sent him to the turian military at the age of fifteen. It wasn’t long before his biotic abilities were noticed and he was sent to train with the cabals. With grit and determination, the young Solghrian had managed to become a Kabalim within six years’ time. With his unique leading and battle tactics, he played an important role during the Relay 314 Incident; this caught the attention of a Spectre recruiter and before long he found himself saying farewell to the men and women he had led and served with.’_

He was staring at his glass again, reminiscing about his life. His dad had passed quite a while ago, but Philara and Lisarius were still around and they both still cared about him, but it had been sometime since he had last contacted them, _‘Maybe I should get around to doing that.’_

He kept thinking back, fifty long years and most of which had been dedicated to duty and fighting. He had never been in a long term relationship, or any relationship for that matter, just a few one-night hookups during shore leave and the occasional stress relief with fellow soldiers. He had never had a chance to have a family, he still had a few decades left in him, a family wasn’t off the table entirely, but as a Spectre a few decades may become just a few years.

He had been debating for some time whether he should resign or not, but he had kept saying to himself _‘Just finish this mission, then we’ll figure it out.’_ And still this very moment, those words played in his head, accompanied with his dad’s old mantra, _‘If you don’t die in a battlefield you’re not a real turian.’_

He raised his glass and took another drink. When he did he heard someone shouting, well he had been hearing people shouting since he got entered the club, but this time he could tell it was directed at him. He worried, at first, that his cover may have been blown, but then he heard what the idiot was saying, “You are disrespecting the spirits of all of our colonies!”

It was a turian, and an asshole at that, who had the usual colony markings most of his kind did, well except for Diurnus. His dad told him it was just “superstitious varren shit”, and that he shouldn’t bother with it.

The Spectre put his glass back down and faced the loudmouth turian approaching him.

“Yeah you heard me, you bare-faced nobody!” the accuser spouted at the former Kabalim, right in front of him now.

“It’s best if you just stop now asshole, it will end better for everyone involved,” the skilled biotic calmly and quietly stated.

The man just laughed and swung a fist at him.

Before the fist could hit him, Solghrian had grabbed his arm and bent it backwards, behind his back, and kicked his legs out from under him. Now that he was on the ground, the veteran grabbed the back of the moron’s head and slammed his face into the hard metal floor.

“So how about you shut it with the “bare-faced” shit from now on,” he taunted.

Diurnus let go of him, his body falling limp to the floor, likely unconscious. He looked around and noticed people staring. He sighed. “Great, now you’ve ruined the only place for me to get a drink,” he mumbled to himself under his breath, yet it was directed to his attempted attacker.

He started walking toward the exit, giving a half-hearted kick in the ribs to the sleeping turian as he passed, and soon left the club.

 _‘I had been going there for how long and nothing happened? But the one day I could really use a drink that asshole ruins it for me.’_ Another sigh. _‘Looks like it’s just me and the shadows of my hidey-hole for the remainder of this mission.’_ Yet _another_ sigh. _‘That’s just great.’_

* * *

 

_'The elevator door opened. Shepard’s vision clouded once more, but seemingly more focused, as though it had a clearer purpose than before. He did not remember getting on the elevator, and again he felt his body moving without his permission as it stepped out of the elevator and onto the CIC._

_Red hair, thin frame, and of course where his eyes laid upon, a shapely rear. Kelly. Another demented nightmare he was forced to live through without control, and this time it was Kelly. Kelly always got up early, an overachiever, she had a tendency to get up while the “night” shift was still working and would be for some time._

_His legs kept moving, walking toward her with intent. He reached her and she knew not he was there, either because he moved quietly or because she was distracted by something on her terminal. His hands shot forward and placed themselves on her hips, eliciting a shocked jolt and short gasp. She turned her head over her shoulder to see who was the perpetrator._

_“Commander!” she said in a shocked tone, only loud enough for him to hear and not the “night” shift crew. “I’m flattered, but…”_

_“‘But…’ what Kelly?” words left his mouth, again in his voice, but he did not say them, and again they did not sound normal. As he said this one of his hands began moving upward her body, seemingly planning to cup one of her breasts._

_“I know we’ve flirted, but… but you’re with Tali and…,” though he couldn’t see her face, her speech accurately displayed how flustered she was._

_“Tali doesn’t matter right now, she would never have to know and it could be just a fun little secret between the two of us,” his hand continued to slowly slither up her torso._

_“No John!” she grew back some of her confidence as she quietly exclaimed her objections. “And if you don’t take your hands off of me, I will be forced to get someone else involved.”_

_At that moment Shepard’s hand reached its destination, but where that was surprised him almost as much as it did Miss Chambers. His hand placed itself on the nape of her neck firmly but not tightly and his head moved to the opposite shoulder, beginning to whisper in her ear in a calm fashion._

_“A shame, due to your promiscuous nature I had hoped you would have done this willingly, at first at least, but it seems your morality got in the way,” his voice spoke continuously in a leveled tone, not displaying a hint of emotion. “This is happening whether you’re willing or not.”_

_A short squeal almost erupted from her, had his other hand not immediately left her hip and shot up to her mouth, muffling any attempted sound._

_A still practically emotionless voice whispered into her ear. “I expected that, you’re very predictable Kelly, surprisingly so considering your qualifications,” Shepard felt his lips contort into a small smile, even felt a small chuckle grow in his throat, but apparently it decided against it and swallowed the sound down._

_“This was your only warning Yeoman Chambers, I am going to remove my hand from your mouth as it would look very suspicious if someone were to look over. If you scream, squeal, or make any sound that is any sort of attempt at calling out for help, the second said sound escapes those pretty lips of yours, your head will be nothing more than a bloody stump on your neck,” the commander felt his biotics flare up, making his hand glow blue to drive the point home._

_His hand was then removed from her face and when she spoke again she tried to put on a façade of confidence, but she was clearly shaken from his words and the situation. “You couldn’t get away with that,” she practically breathed her words with how quietly she spoke them, obviously the threat got to her._

_“I’m Commander Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, Hero of Humanity, and just downright nice guy to all my crew. If I were to put you down, all I would have to say was that you accepted a deal with the Collectors and I had no choice but to kill you in self-defense,” Shepard felt that same smile creep onto his lips, this time it felt more malicious than before. “And no one would question it.”_

_She did not respond; she was almost frozen from terror._

_“Now come with me to the elevator,” the hand previously over her mouth was now turning her body around to face their destination, while his other hand did not move from where held on her neck._

_As her body turned, their eyes met for a brief second. Shepard saw in the piercing green eyes fear and utter horror, directed at her commander and his drastic change in actions, where there once used to be nothing but compassion and care for all who lived on the ship._

_It took nothing but a short tap on her back to get her to start moving, the threat of her own demise and desire to live guiding her, as his hand was still placed between her shoulder and jugular, occasionally flaring to life with biotics._

_He followed behind her, his legs moving on their own accord, again, just as everything else had been. When they reached the elevator, his hand shot forward and opened it, directing Kelly in first. He followed and only when the door had closed behind them did he let go of her. Apparently the threat of death still stayed with her as she made no attempt to escape nor did she even make a sound._

_“On your knees,” his voice erupted in a demanding tone. She looked at him with pleading eyes, understanding what was next and wishing he would not go through with it. “I said on your knees.” His hand glowed with blue biotic energy and she was on her knees the second it did._

_His hand hit the button for his quarters, then began reaching for his belt. “These elevators move far too slow, maybe you should help speed the process up Miss Chambers.”’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've referenced this in the comments, but because of a lot of changes in my personal life that have effected my writing/free time I won't be able to make a chapter a week nor would it be likely for me to be able to make one every two weeks (maybe). So because of this the updates will not be scheduled and I will just post them up whenever I manage to finish them, but hopefully future ones won't take as long as this one did. And again I would like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter.


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